Enlarge image
Image of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv from 2013
Photo: Oliver Weiken / picture alliance / dpa
Four women from Israel are said to have spied on behalf of Iran.
According to the Israeli domestic secret service Shin Bet, they had contact via Facebook with a man who called himself "Rambod Namdar" and claimed to be an Iranian Jew.
The contact has been going on for several years, the secret service said.
Although the women suspected it might be an Iranian agent, some of them did some work for him for a fee.
A 40-year-old from Cholon near Tel Aviv secretly photographed the US embassy in Tel Aviv with her husband - the US embassy is now in Jerusalem.
She also informed the Iranian contact man about security measures at a shopping center in Cholon and photographed it.
On his behalf, she also tried to get her son to do his military service in the intelligence department.
The Iranian even phoned the son directly to check his knowledge of the Persian language.
The woman is said to have tried to persuade her son to do military service in the secret service unit
A 57-year-old from Beit Shemesh also performed various tasks for "Rambod Namdar" for $ 5,000.
She also tried, among other things, to persuade her son to do military service in a secret service unit.
You have also tried in vain to photograph the US embassy in Jerusalem.
It was a "serious affair," said Schin Bet.
The attempt to set up a spy network for Iran was prevented.
There have been many similar attempts by Tehran to lure Israeli citizens through social media.
The women, who have now been accused, have endangered themselves, their families and the State of Israel by providing information about Israeli and US targets that could be used for terrorist purposes.
Tehran sees Israel as an archenemy.
The destruction of the Jewish state and the "liberation of Palestine" have been part of the foreign policy doctrine of the Islamic Republic for four decades.
anr / dpa